Bistro Furniture: 7 New Design Ideas
- By Ronny Nibbinsworth
- Published 04/6/2009
- Advice
-
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Ronny Nibbinsworth
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Are you bored with your restaurant's layout? Do you think its time for some change? Are customers asking you if you're considering color changes? Maybe its time for a total makeover for your bistro's furniture. You're probably wondering where to start, what to do, and what to avoid. Here are 7 new design ideas for your bistro's furniture.
1. Bring In Detail
Bringing detail to your restaurant is one of the excellent ways to make your bistro look fresh and cozy. Detail shouldn't be expensive, unlike what many people think by buying expensive paintings and sculptures. Detail can be done by simple steps such as adding colored wallpaper to your surfaces - if you have aluminum bistro tables - and adding a glass surface.
You can also trap dried flowers under the glass surface for a beautiful effect, or create water illusions with one of those spread jelly packages you can buy at your local superstore.
Another element that can bring in detail to your restaurant is lighting. You might be thinking how can lighting possibly bring in anything since it's not solid. Lighting works as a catalyst to whatever detail you have, many of the special corners in your restaurant can be neglected because of insufficient lighting.
2. Changing the Layout
One of the hottest topics in the design world is Feng Shui. Feng Shui, an ancient Chinese practice, is used in arranging objects (places of furniture in a room) to bring harmony into the area. Modern designers nowadays arrange furniture in accordance with the three elements of life: water, fire, and wind. How can you apply Feng Shui without reading books or hiring a professional? The answer is careful contemplation.
Upon contemplating your furniture layout, you'll probably notice that the most important thing is how the paths are free or blocked. Can your customers move easily from their table to the bathroom? Are they too close to the door? Or too far away from the window? The main principle in Feng Shui is to keep the wind flowing into the room: windows and doors must be kept open for fresh air to come in.
Also, you should avoid placing tables near the bathroom or kitchen, since it can disturb your customer's experience and energy. How would you feel about having your meal a couple of meters away from a bathroom or from the rattle of kitchenware?
Arranging furniture can also be a tool to highlight a certain aspect in your restaurant. Let's say for example you have purchased a rare painting that you fell in love with recently and would like to show it off. How can you do that? Arranging furniture around a center of focus (your painting) is one of the most successful ways to condense your customer's experience. You can do so by letting your tables face this painting in a casual way, the way you would place your couches at home around a TV.
3. Decide on a Theme
You've probably been to one of those theme restaurants that made you a regular since because of their beautiful coherence. You've also probably been to one of those cluttered restaurants that serve everything from sushi, to pizza, to Kebab. What's the importance of a theme for a restaurant and how can you enforce this theme using your furniture?
Themes are condensed coherent ideas
. For you to adopt a certain theme, you must stick to one style when it comes to furniture. You cannot have both a SCI-FI edge and Western theme in the same time - unless you're a professional design working towards a new theme. Themes should suit your crowd's lifestyle. Let's say that your restaurant is near the Museum of Science, this means that people visiting are mostly people interested in science. This means that a SCI-FI theme rich with neon lighting, stools, and vibrant colors will definitely appeal to your crowd.
Another thing to look at is how versatile is your furniture. Your bistro furniture should be flexible to suit different themes in case of re-decoration. One example of versatile furniture is aluminum tables - commonly used in 50's themes. Aluminum tables can be covered for a formal, sophisticated theme, decorated with flowers and peace bumper stickers for a hippie theme, or even covered with textured wallpaper for an Asian theme.
4. Vary Sizes
The sizes of your furniture items play an important role in the restaurant's perception. Designers can make a huge, cold room look small and cozy simply by varying sizes of the furniture. Having different sizes of chairs, tables, lighting fixtures, etc creates the sense of intimate chaos in the room. It makes your restaurant look smaller than it is, and more homely.
Picking consistent sizes of furniture can make a room look larger than it is. Restaurants serving business men often employ such a strategy, since consistency conveys professionalism and sophistication.
Playing with the furniture sizes can help you convey the image you need.
5. Tweak the Lighting
Lighting fixtures are an important part of your bistro furniture since they complement everything there. Lighting makes the atmosphere of your bistro with its shades and focus. Lighting fixtures must be placed in areas that are considered focus points such as your tables. No one likes eating in a dim area, so make sure tables are exposed to casual light.
Picking lighting fixtures is also one of the things every bistro owner must consider. Tall lighting fixtures can convey sophistication, while shorter ones can contribute to a sense of coziness. The intensity of the lighting fixtures is also an important factor in your design, dim lighting is ideal with wood, generous lighting ideal with colorful furniture.
6. Vary Texture
Texture is yet another important element in your design. Different textures convey different messages to your customer. Some of the freshest, yet commonly used design ideas are to mix different textures to create variation for the eye. Plaid and solid color combinations are excellent for bistros with younger crowds.
Texture colors are one of the ones to vary your designs every now and then. You can order different colors for your curtains and use them in accordance with your theme.
7. Accessorize Your Windows
Windows are what your customers love the most. They symbolize serenity and wellness. Windows also provide you with extensive room for makeovers that make all the difference in your bistro's image. Starting with size and shape, windows can make a room look larger - if huge, moderate sized if squared, and cozy if rounded.
Windows can be decorated using colorful wallpaper and if done correctly can make your bistro look ultra hip.
Curtains are one of the accessories that can be attached to your windows. You can change the color and textures of your curtains every now and then for a fresh look in your bistro.
1. Bring In Detail
Bringing detail to your restaurant is one of the excellent ways to make your bistro look fresh and cozy. Detail shouldn't be expensive, unlike what many people think by buying expensive paintings and sculptures. Detail can be done by simple steps such as adding colored wallpaper to your surfaces - if you have aluminum bistro tables - and adding a glass surface.
You can also trap dried flowers under the glass surface for a beautiful effect, or create water illusions with one of those spread jelly packages you can buy at your local superstore.
Another element that can bring in detail to your restaurant is lighting. You might be thinking how can lighting possibly bring in anything since it's not solid. Lighting works as a catalyst to whatever detail you have, many of the special corners in your restaurant can be neglected because of insufficient lighting.
2. Changing the Layout
One of the hottest topics in the design world is Feng Shui. Feng Shui, an ancient Chinese practice, is used in arranging objects (places of furniture in a room) to bring harmony into the area. Modern designers nowadays arrange furniture in accordance with the three elements of life: water, fire, and wind. How can you apply Feng Shui without reading books or hiring a professional? The answer is careful contemplation.
Upon contemplating your furniture layout, you'll probably notice that the most important thing is how the paths are free or blocked. Can your customers move easily from their table to the bathroom? Are they too close to the door? Or too far away from the window? The main principle in Feng Shui is to keep the wind flowing into the room: windows and doors must be kept open for fresh air to come in.
Also, you should avoid placing tables near the bathroom or kitchen, since it can disturb your customer's experience and energy. How would you feel about having your meal a couple of meters away from a bathroom or from the rattle of kitchenware?
Arranging furniture can also be a tool to highlight a certain aspect in your restaurant. Let's say for example you have purchased a rare painting that you fell in love with recently and would like to show it off. How can you do that? Arranging furniture around a center of focus (your painting) is one of the most successful ways to condense your customer's experience. You can do so by letting your tables face this painting in a casual way, the way you would place your couches at home around a TV.
3. Decide on a Theme
You've probably been to one of those theme restaurants that made you a regular since because of their beautiful coherence. You've also probably been to one of those cluttered restaurants that serve everything from sushi, to pizza, to Kebab. What's the importance of a theme for a restaurant and how can you enforce this theme using your furniture?
Themes are condensed coherent ideas
Another thing to look at is how versatile is your furniture. Your bistro furniture should be flexible to suit different themes in case of re-decoration. One example of versatile furniture is aluminum tables - commonly used in 50's themes. Aluminum tables can be covered for a formal, sophisticated theme, decorated with flowers and peace bumper stickers for a hippie theme, or even covered with textured wallpaper for an Asian theme.
4. Vary Sizes
The sizes of your furniture items play an important role in the restaurant's perception. Designers can make a huge, cold room look small and cozy simply by varying sizes of the furniture. Having different sizes of chairs, tables, lighting fixtures, etc creates the sense of intimate chaos in the room. It makes your restaurant look smaller than it is, and more homely.
Picking consistent sizes of furniture can make a room look larger than it is. Restaurants serving business men often employ such a strategy, since consistency conveys professionalism and sophistication.
Playing with the furniture sizes can help you convey the image you need.
5. Tweak the Lighting
Lighting fixtures are an important part of your bistro furniture since they complement everything there. Lighting makes the atmosphere of your bistro with its shades and focus. Lighting fixtures must be placed in areas that are considered focus points such as your tables. No one likes eating in a dim area, so make sure tables are exposed to casual light.
Picking lighting fixtures is also one of the things every bistro owner must consider. Tall lighting fixtures can convey sophistication, while shorter ones can contribute to a sense of coziness. The intensity of the lighting fixtures is also an important factor in your design, dim lighting is ideal with wood, generous lighting ideal with colorful furniture.
6. Vary Texture
Texture is yet another important element in your design. Different textures convey different messages to your customer. Some of the freshest, yet commonly used design ideas are to mix different textures to create variation for the eye. Plaid and solid color combinations are excellent for bistros with younger crowds.
Texture colors are one of the ones to vary your designs every now and then. You can order different colors for your curtains and use them in accordance with your theme.
7. Accessorize Your Windows
Windows are what your customers love the most. They symbolize serenity and wellness. Windows also provide you with extensive room for makeovers that make all the difference in your bistro's image. Starting with size and shape, windows can make a room look larger - if huge, moderate sized if squared, and cozy if rounded.
Windows can be decorated using colorful wallpaper and if done correctly can make your bistro look ultra hip.
Curtains are one of the accessories that can be attached to your windows. You can change the color and textures of your curtains every now and then for a fresh look in your bistro.